Engine starting apparatus



March 27, 1934. v B, DYER 1,952,124

ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS Original Filed July 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 27, 1934.

J. B. DYER 1,952,124

ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS Original Filed July 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (21.42 Mm@ QA.,

aucuns" Paieied Mar. 27, 1934 PATENT oFFIcE ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS John B. Dyer, Pendleton, Ind., assigner to Delco- Remy Corporation, Anderson, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application July 26, 1929, Serial No. 381,365 Renewed April 20, 1933 11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in engine starting devices, and particularly to improvements in the control apparatus for such devices.

It is among the objects of the present invention to control the engine starting device by a member already provided to control a part of the engine, for instance, the pedal for controlling the engine clutch.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus under the control of the engine, which will so limit operation of the control member that movement thereof during engine operation cannot be transmitted to the engine starting device, but only to the part of the engine intended to be controlled during such engine operation.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side view of an engine adapted for use on motor vehicles, said engine being equipped with a preferred form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 20 designates the engine having a housing 21 in which the ywheel 22 of the engine is encased. As shown in Fig. 1, the flywheel 22 is provided about its periphery with a ring gear 23. Within the housing 21, which includes also the transmission casing 24, there is provided the clutch of the vehicle which includes discs 25 urged into rictional engagement with the flywheel 22 by a ring plate 26. Ring member 26 has a plurality of standards 27 which pivotally support clutch operating arms 28, each having a hump portion 29 pivotally engaging the plate 26, the inner ends of said arms being engaged by the clutch throwout bearing 30. The clutch throw-out bearing 30 is engaged by a yoke 31 secured to the clutch controlling shaft 32, which is journalled in bearings 33 and 34 provided by the casing 21. A control member or clutch pedal 35 is secured to the end of the shaft 32 extending outside of the casing 2l, the depression of said pedal 35 rotating the shaft 32 so that the yoke 3l thereon will exert pressure upon the thrust bearing 30, this bearing in turn exerting pressure upon the inner ends of the arms 28 so that the outer ends of said arms `Will exert a pull upon their respective standards (Cl. 29o-27) 27, due to the fact that the intermediate portions of arms 28 are fulcrumed by humps 29 upon the plate 26, thus the plate 26 is moved out of frictional engagement with the disc 25, releasing the clutch. This clutch structure is of the stand- 60 ard disc type as used on motor vehicles.

The engine starting apparatus comprises an electric motor having a drive shaft 51 which supports a pinion 52 so that said pinion 52 is slidable thereon but rotatable therewith. The 05 starting motor is mounted upon the engine in any suitable manner so that the pinion 52 may be moved into mesh with the engine gear 23 for starting purposes. A shifting collar 53 is secured to the pinion 52 in any suitable manner, said shifting collar being engaged by the yoke end of lever 54, pivoted at 55 to the housing extension 56 which forms the gear housing of the motor 50 and which also provides a bearing for the outer end of the drive shaft 51 of the motor. 75 Theouter end of lever 54 has one end of the actuator rod 57 secured thereto, the other end of said actuator rod being secured to the lever 58 which is rotatably carried upon the clutch control shaft 32. A spring 59 has one end secured to the lever 58, the other to a stud 60 supported by the transmission housing 24, said spring normally urging the lever 58 in a counter-clockwise direction whereby the actuator rod 57 will move the lever 54 in a counter-clockwise direction, thus causing said lever to urge the shifting collar 53 and its associate pinion 52 toward the right as regards Fig. 1, or out of mesh with the engine ilywheel 23. A switch casing 61 is carried upon the motor 50, said casing having a stationary contact 62 insulatingly supported therein. Another stationary contact 63 is mounted upon the motor 50, said contact 63 having one lead of the motor connected thereto, the lead not being shown. A plunger 84, slidably supported by the casing 61, has a bridging Contact 65 which is normally urged out of engagement with stationary contacts G2 and 63 by the spring 66. The stationary contact 62 of the motor switch is connected through lead wire 67 with one terminal of 100 the battery 58', the other terminal of the battery being grounded by the lead wire 69. Stationary contact 62 is also connected through a relay 70 with one side of a generator 71 carried by and driven by the engine in any suitable manner.

Rotation of the lever 54 of the starting motor in a clockwise direction and out of the normal position in which it is shown in Fig. 1, will move the shifting collar 53 so that the pinion 52 will be moved into mesh with the engine gear 23. 110

After the lever 54 has been rotated clockwise a sucient distance it will engage the plunger 64, moving it so that its bridging contact will connect the stationary contacts 62 and 63. Current from the storage battery 68 will now ilow through the lead 67 to stationary contact 62, across the bridging member 65 into stationary contact 63 and thence through the starting motor 50 to ground, returning to the battery via the ground connection 69. This closing of the circuit will cause the motor to rotate and crank the engine.

Ordinarily a separate pedal is provided for 'operating the lever 54 for starting purposes. In

the present invention a member already provided to control a part ofthe engine is utilized for operating the starting motor for starting purposes. In this case the clutch pedal 35 is used. The clutch pedal has a range of movement comprising two portions. The initial portion of the Vrange of movement of clutch pedal 35 is used for controlling theengine clutch, the final or latter portion of the movement of the clutch pedal 35 is used for' causing operation of the motor 50 for starting purposes'.

As shown in Fig. 1, the clutch control shaft 32 has a'segment-shaped lever 8O secured thereto so that said lever will rotate with said shaft. Lever has an elongated, arcuate slot 81 substantially concentric of the shaft 32. Upon the lever 58 there is mounted a pin 82 which extends into the arcuate slot 81 of the lever 80. When all elements are in their normal position, the pin 82 will be at the clockwise or right end of the slot 81 as regards Fig. l. Depression of pedal 35 causes shaft 32 to be rotated ina clockwise direction, thus lever 80 will move relative to pin 82 until said lever 80 has reached the position in which the pin 82 will engage with the left end of the slot 81, at which time continued movement of the pedal 35 will cause the lever 80 now engaging pin 82 to move the lever 58 carrying the pin 82, clockwise, so that the actuator rod 57 will move the lever 54 clockwise about its pivot 55.

From this it may be seen that for clutch controlling purposes pedal 35 may be moved through a range in which lever 80 is rotated so that the ends of its slot 81 barely engage with the pin 82. If the pedal 35 is moved clockwise after the left end of the slot 81 engages pin 82, both levers 80 and 58 will move together, thus causing the lever 54 of the starting motor to shift pinion 52 into engagement with the engine gear 23.

In order to prevent operation of the starting motor 50 by the operation of the clutch pedal 35 during the self-operation of the engine, there is provided a latch 90 pivoted to 'the pin 91, supported on the transmission housing 24, one end of said lever lying adjacent to the pivoted end of lever 80. An extending lug portion 92 isprovided on lever 8O and is so positioned relative to the latch 90 that when said latch engages the lever 80 as shown in Fig. l, the lever 80 cannot be moved clockwise after the leftl end of its slot 81 has been moved into juxtaposition to the pin 82. Thus latch 90 provides an obstruction which prevents the operation of the lever 80 by the clutch pedal 35. Latch 90 is moved into position for obstructing such movement of the lever 86 by an electromagnet 94 comprising a core 95 and a winding 96 as shown in Fig. l. The latch 90 has an arm portion 97 which lies in the magnetic eld of the core 95 and forms the movable armature of the electromagnet. Winding 96 has one end connected to the dynamo 'Z1 through a lead wire 98, the other lend of the winding being grounded as at 99. A spring 100 has one end secured to the arm 97 of latch 90 and the other end to a stud 101 provided by the transmission housing 94. Spring 100 normally urges the latch 90 clockwise so that the arm 97 thereof will be moved away from the magnet core 95, the other portion of the latch 90 being moved out of engagement with lever 80 so that it cannot engage the lug 92 on said lever 80 and thereby obstruct the complete movement of said lever 80 for starting purposes after the left end of its slot 81 has engaged the pin 82.`

When the engine is inoperative, latch 90 will be out of the path of movement of the lug 92 of the lever 80, pin 82 will be at the right end of slot 8l as regards Fig. 1, pinion 52 will be out of mesh with the engine gear 23 as shown in Fig. 1.

To start the engine after the ignition has been properly closed, the operator depresses or pushes upon the clutch pedal 35, causing clockwise rotation of the clutch controlling shaft 32 and consequently clockwise rotation of the lever 80. The

left end of slot 81 of the lever 80 now approaches the pin 82 and the lug 92 of said lever will approach the latch 90.I Latch 90, however, being out of the path of movement of said lug will permit lever80 to vcontinue to rotate to engage with pin 82, and by its continued movement clockwise, causing the lever 58 to be likewise rotated. The actuator rod 57 will now be moved toward the right, causing lever 54 to be rotated clockwise, which, as has been mentioned heretofore, will move the pinion 52 into engagement with the engine gear. Lever 52 rotating clockwise will engage plunger 64, move it' to connect contacts 62 and 63 by bridging member 65 so that, as has bee'n described, the motor 50 will be caused to rotate to crank the engine. As soon as the engine has become self-operating, the pedal 35 will be released, thus shaft 32 will be moved counterclockwise, causing counterclockwise rotation of lever 80. When the right end of slot 81 of` said lever engages pin 82 continued counterclockwise rotation of lever 81 will result in a counterclockwise rotation of levers 58 and 54, this latter lever when The engine now being started, the operatordepresses the clutch pedal 35 in order to shift gears. Depression of the clutch pedal 35 will, as before, rotate the shaft 32 clockwise and also the lever (80. This movement of the clutch pedal 3.5 and lever 80, however, is limited for the latch 90 by the energization of the electromagnet 94 now lies within the path of movement of the lug 92 of lever 80 and as soon as lug 92 engages with the latch 90, movement of the lever 80 is obstructed, thus further movement of the pedal 35 is stopped. This substantially prevents movement of the pedal 35 to operate the actuating mechanism of pinion 52 of the starting motor 50 after the engine has become self-operating, whereby any damage that might be caused by the clashing of the pinion with the engine gear `23 while it is rotating is substantially eliminated.

As soon as the engine has stopped, however, dy-

namo '11 will no more energize the electromagnet 94, thus spring 100 will tend to rotate the latch 90 clockwise so that it will be moved out of the path of movement of lug 92 and thus the mechanism is again set for the starting operation.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination, with an engine; an engine gear; a clutch provided with a clutch release shaft, a starting motor; a pinion on said motor shiftable into engagement with the engine gear for starting purposes; an actuator adapted to shift the pinion and cause the starting motor to operate; a pedal secured to the clutch release shaft and operable out of normal position to release the clutch, said pedal having additional movement beyond the point of clutch release; a pin on the actuator; a lever secured to the clutch shaft, said lever having an arcuate slot for receiving the pin of the actuator, one end of the slot engaging the pin when the pedal is in normal position, the other end of the slot engaging said pin when the pedal has been moved to rotate the clutch release shaft to full clutch releasing position, continued movement of said pedal causing the lever to operate the actuator to connect the starting motor with the engine and to cause said motor to operate for cranking purposes; and means responsive to engine operation for engaging the lever so that the movement of said lever and the shaft to which it is secured is limited to the clutch operating range during the operation of the engine.

2. Ina device of the character described, the combination, with an engine; an engine gear; a clutch provided with a clutch release shaft, a starting motor; a pinion on said motor shiftable into engagement with the engine gear for starting purposes; an actuator adapted to shift the pinion and cause the starting motor to operate; a pedal secured to the clutch release shaft and operable out of normal position to release the clutch, said pedal having additional movement beyond the point of clutch release; a pin on the actuator; a lever secured to the clutch shaft, said lever having an arcuate slot for receiving the pin of the actuator, one end of the slot engaging the pin when the pedal is in normal position, the other end of the slot engaging said pin when the pedal has been moved to rotate the clutch release shaft to full clutch releasing position, continued movement of said pedal causing the lever to operate the actuator to connect the starting motor with the engine and to cause said motor to operate for cranking purposes; a dynamo driven by the engine; and an electro-magnetic latch, adapted to be energized by the dynamo, to engage the lever and to limit the movement of said lever to the `clutch operating range only during the operation of the engine,

3. In a device of the character described, ythe combination with an engine; VVa clutch; a clutch controlling shaft; a starting motor; a generator driven by the engine; a pinion shiftable out of normal position to connect the starting motor with the engine; a pedal attached to the clutch controlling shaft; a lever rotatably supported upon said shaft; a motor switch' an actuator connecting the said lever with the pinion and being adapted to engage the motor switch to render the starting motor operative; a lever secured to the clutch controlling shaft so as to be rotatable therewith; a lost motion connection between both of said levers whereby the one, rotatably carried by the shaft, is engaged and moved by the other lever only after the pedal has rotated the clutch control shaft through an initial portion of its range of movement; and an electro- `magnetic latch rendered effective by the operation of the generator to engage the lever rotatable with the shaft, whereby the movement of said lever is limited to its initial portion of its range of movement.

4. In a vdevice of the character described, the combination with an engine; a clutch; a clutch controlling shaft; a starting motor; a pinion shiftable out of normal position to connect the starting motor with the engine; a pedal fixed to the clutch controlling shaft; a lever journalled upon said shaft; a motor switch; an actuator connecting the said lever with the pinion and being adapted to engage the motor switch to render the starting motor operative; a lever secured to the clutch controlling shaft so as tov be rotatable therewith; a lost motion connection between said levers whereby the lever journalled upon the shaft is engaged and moved by the other lever only after the pedal has rotated the clutch control shaft through an initial portion of its range of movement; and a latch rendered effective in response to engine operation for engaging the second mentioned lever whereby movement of said second mentioned lever is limited to the initial portion of its range of movement.

5. In a device of the character'described, the combination with an engine; a clutch; a clutch controlling shaft; an engine starting device; a pedal attached to the clutch controlling shaft, a lever secured to the clutch controlling shaft so as to be rotatable therewith, a lever rotatably supported upon the clutch controlling shaft; means connected with the last mentioned lever for controlling the engine starting device; a lost motion connection between said levers whereby the lever journalled upon the shaft is engaged and moved by the other lever only after the pedal has rotated the clutch controlling shaft through an initial portion of its range of movement; and

a latch rendered effective in response to engine operation for engaging the lever fixed to the clutch controlling shaft whereby movement of said lever is limited to the initial portion of its range of movement.

6. In a device of the character described the combination with an engine; a clutch; a pedal for controlling the clutch; a lever movable with the clutch controlling pedal; a second lever pedal coaxial to the rst mentioned lever; an engine starting device; means for connecting the second mentioned lever with the engine starting device to operate the same upon movement of thev second mentioned lever; a lost motion connection between said levers whereby the second mentioned lever is engaged and moved by the rst lever only after the cl-utch pedal has moved through an initial portion of itskrange of movement; and a latch rendered effective in response to engine operation for engaging the rst mentioned lever whereby movement of said lever is limited to the initial portion of its range of movement.

7. In a control system for automotive vehicles having an internal combustion engine and a clutch for connecting the engine in driving rolation with the vehicle, a starting motor, a current source for supplying current to said motor, a switch for controlling the circuit between the current source and motor, a member for operating the switch, an actuating element for operating said member, means for operating the clutch and adapted to operate said actuating element, means enabling the clutch operating means to move the clutch to clutch releasing position while said actuating element remains stationary, and means operable by the engine when operating under its own power to positively lock said actuating element against movement whereby operation of the starting motor during engine operation is prevented.

8. In a control system for automotive vehicles having an internal combustion engine and a clutch for connecting the engine in driving relation with the vehicle, a starting motor normally disconnected from the engine, a current source for supplying current to said motor, a switch for controlling the circuit between said current source and said motor, a member for simultaneously closing said switch and establishing driving connection between said starting motor and the engine, an actuating element for operating said member, means for operating the clutch and adapted to operate said actuating element, means enabling the clutch operating means to move the clutch to clutch releasing position while said actuating element remains stationary, and means operated by the engine when operating under its own power to positively lock said actuating element against movement whereby operation of the starting motor during engine operation is prevented.

9. In a control system for automotive vehicles having an internal combustion engine and a clutch for connecting the engine in driving relation with the Vehicle, a starting motor normally disconnected from the engine, a current source for supplying current to said motor, a switch for controlling the circuit between said current source and said motor, a member for simultaneously closing said switch and establishing driving connection between said starting motor` and the engine, an actuating element for operating said member, means for operating the clutch and adapted to operate said actuating element, a lost motion connection between the clutch operating member and said actuating element whereby the clutch can be moved to clutch releasing position without accompanying movement of theactuating element, and means operated by the engine when operating under its own power to positively lock said actuating element against movement whereby operation of the starting motor during engine operation is prevented.

10. In a control system for automotive Vehicles having an internal combustion engine and a clutch for connecting the engine in driving relation with the vehicle, a starting motor, a current source for supplying current to said motor, a switch for controlling the circuit between the current source and motor, a member for operating the switch, an actuating element for operating said member, means for operating the clutch and adapted to operate :afd actuating element, means enabling the clutch operating means to move the clutch to clutch releasing position while said actuating element remains stationary, a generator, and means operable by the generator for positively locking the actuating lelement against operation during operation of the engine under its own power whereby operation of the starting motor is prevented during clutch releasing operations when the engine is running.

1l. In a control system for automotive vehicles having an internal combustion engine and a clutch for connecting the engine in driving relation with the vehicle, a starting motor, a current source for supplying current to said motor, a switch for controlling the circuit between the current source and motor, a member for operating the switch, an actuating element for operating said member, means for operating the clutch,

arm secured tothe clutch operating means for movement therewith and adapted to operate said actuating element, a lost motion connection between said arm and said actuating element whereby the clutch operating means is enabled to move to clutch releasing position without accdrnpanying movement of the actuating element and means operable by the engine when operating under its own power to positively lock the actuating element against movement whereby operation of the starting motor during engine operation is prevented. JOHN B. DYER. 

